Hour 55: Best Served Cold

It suddenly strikes me that in Hour 6 I vowed to murder the foul Orc in Cheydinal who called me a "little fly". In fact I vowed to murder all of the Orcs in that particular Inn, but I said I would murder him most of all. Back then I was weak and ill-prepared for violence of any kind, but now I'm the head of the Mages Guild and an active member of an assassin death-cult, with an inventory full of arcane and deadly artefacts. No longer can the Orc's offensive comment go unpunished! I travel back to Cheydinhal and find the inn - Newlands Lodge. The Orcs aren't there so I wait around, and before long the brutes come sauntering in. Here's the doomed one, insulting me to my face again as he stuffs his own with bread and mead:

I wait until the dead of night and break into his house. He's fast asleep in bed, but unfortunately he shares his room with another Orc. That doesn't stop me, though. I immolate him with magical flames and soon his pitiful life is snuffed out of existence. I turn to his friend to repeat the process, when all of a sudden a city guard bursts in and tries to arrest me!

What the hell? No one saw me break in. How is a guard here so quickly? I 'resist arrest' and run away.   I run out of Cheydinhal and into the bleak night, with the entire city guard in pursuit. A series of strange events then ensues...

Firstly, as I sprint down the path away from Cheydinhal, I see the unicorn walking along the path. I haven't seen this beast in, what 25 hours? Why it's suddenly shown up now I have no idea. The timing couldn't be better, though, and I leap onto its back and gallop away.
Next, as I'm riding along a few minutes later, a Minotaur attacks the unicorn. Not so strange, perhaps - I've come across Minotaurs in the wild before. The difference is, though, all of the random wild Minotaurs I've fought have carried no weapons. The only ones with weapons were the three which guarded the unicorn - the first three I ever fought. And this Minotaur wields a weapon - a hammer - just like they did. That, and the fact that it ignores me and goes straight for the unicorn (which fights back) unsettled me somewhat.
Lastly, I dismount the unicorn further down the road when a lone Imperial Legion soldier tries to attack me. News travels fast, it seems, and now even the military want the Archmage dead for the oh-so-terrible crime of killing that worthless Orc. I easily slay the soldier, then use the Staff of Worms to resurrect him just to see what happens. To my horror, he attacks me once resurrected! What?! What good is the staff if my enemies attack me when I raise them? But Mannimarco didn't attack me when I raised him. How odd.

After slaying the soldier for a second time, I ponder what to do as I gaze upon the silhouetted White-gold Tower looming in the dark distance.

I decide to carry out one more revenge-killing - against the filthy Dunmer Alval Uvani who threatened me in Hour 7, in Bruma. It's also a good excuse to traverse the northern path and get into a few scrapes. Along the way, I encounter and kill a full-size Ogre (possibly my first? I'm not sure), two bandits with expensive weapons, two bears, and a mountain lion. Not a bad tally, and it's with relief that I reach the snowy walls of Bruma itself... only to be greeted by a furious group of Bruma guards swinging their swords at me! How on earth did news of my murder get here so fast? I dodge the guards and head into Bruma anyway, but Alval's nowhere to be found, and upon further research it turns out he actually travels all over Cyrodiil. Curses! I will kill the wretch one day, but it seems he's safe for now. Looks like I'd better track down Armand Christophe in the Imperial City now to see  if I can get my bounty lifted (it's currently 2007 gold).

Hour 54: Renovation

One more old quest, I think. I picked up the quest 'Where Spirits Have Lease' many hours ago, so I might as well give it a go. I fast-travel to Anvil and speak to a nervous-sounding young man who offers to sell me his mansion for 5000 gold. Sounds like a bargain! It's a bit decrepit, but I purchase it.   I take a look around inside after he gives me the key and scarpers - the place is a mess. I have a short nap in the bed, only to be awoken by violent ghosts! I slay the spectral assailants, but something's not right. There's a bad feeling in the house - it's cursed! I find an old journal containing the demented rumblings of a former occupier.

I track down the man who sold me the house (in the Imperial City) and he tells me of his grandfather who dabbled in necromancy and went insane. He agrees to help me lift the curse. We travel back to Anvil and re-enter the house, battling more ghosts and working our way through a seemingly endless cellar area (I think I kill about 8 ghosts all-told). Eventually, we reach a strange symbol on the wall, which he's able to use to open a secret passage. With trepidation, I head inside.

His grandfather is interred inside in a terrifying-looking tomb! His spirit asks me to reunite him with his skeletal hand (which I found elsewhere in the house) so he can be at peace and face judgement for the foul necromantic crimes he committed during his life. However, when I reattach his hand, he is engulfed in magical fire and bursts to life with an evil cackle, resurrected in a glowing mantle of war complete with helm, staff, and billowing cape. He spews powerful bolts of fire at me and kills me within seconds!

This 'lich' gives me more trouble than any enemy I've yet encountered. I have to re-load the game four times since he keeps slaying me. I eventually work out a method of summoning my Faded Wraith to bear the brunt of his spells, then darting in behind him to fire off a few Immolates / Kindlebolts. Even so, he does a lot of damage to me and it's only by quaffing tons of potions that I'm able to stay alive long enough to bring him down.

When he finally dies, the curse is lifted, and the mansion is restored to order. Here's a shot of the outside:

I climbed onto the roof and took a shot of the Main Street of Anvil:

This mission took the best part of an hour, due to my repeated failures at trying to kill the Lich. I spend the remaining part of the hour strolling round Anvil and talking to the mad preacher near my house.

Hour 53: Purple Haze

Whilst in Cheydinhal, I decide it's high time I completed the 'A Brush With Death' quest. I think this was the first quest I received, after exiting the sewers at the start of the game. Everyone in town's always talking about Rythe Lythandas, a missing painter, so I head over to his house and his wife lets me into his studio. I then magically enter one of his paintings, and find them there. He needs help retrieving his magical (Daedra-enchanted) paintbrush, which allows him to paint from inside the canvas, from a thief. I traverse the beautiful dreamlike terrain:

It's filled with 'Painted Trolls', drawn by the thief. Although I'm given some turpentine by Rythe to help slay them, I kill them easily enough without this. It takes 1 Kindlebolt and 2 Immolates to bring them down, or 5 (!) Immolates without Kindlebolt. I retrieve the paintbrush and all is well.

Whilst I'm completing old missions, I may as well finish the 'A Brotherhood Betrayed' quest, which I started back in Hour 8 (Vampire-Hunters and Thieves). I return to Bruma, and to Olav's Tap & Tackle. In Hour 8 I wrote that I was unable to persuade Olav to give me the key or any more information, but I find I already have the key now, so I must have gone back at some point and forgotten to mention it. In any case, the quest involves tracking down the murderous Raynil Dralas, who used 'vampire-hunting' as a ruse in order to kill two of his friends, so that he could claim for his own a magical amulet which they'd discovered. All the detective work in this quest was quite enjoyable, and in the end I tracked down Raynil and enacted swift fiery justice upon him.

Hour 52: Deadly Guest

My next assassination mission for the Dark Brotherhood was unusual. It involved travelling to a mansion in Skingrad and being locked in there with five other guests. They were all under the impression that we're there to look for treasure as part of a mysterious game. What they haven't been told is that I've actually been sent to murder them all. This quest is very content and dialogue-heavy. Since your only task is to kill all the guests, you could do that as soon as you walk in (they're just four civilians and one retired soldier). However, if you like you can spend a long time talking to them about themselves and what they think of the other guests, and even manipulate them into suspecting each other of murder as you secretly kill them one by one.

I opted for a middle-ground. I enjoyed talking to them and seeing what they had to say, but I didn't fully explore all of the possibilities and dialogue they had to offer. Since you can kill them in any order, there must be a lot of different reactions and outcomes you can stumble upon based on who's left at the end. I saved the retired solder (Neville) and the drunkard (Nels the Naughty) til last, then convinced Neville that Nels was the killer all along. He cried out:

He actually shouted the word 'Aaaaaiiiieee!' It was awesome. I let him kill Nels, then I robbed him of his life with a well-aimed spell.

Even though I didn't exhaust all the dialogue, I spent well over half and hour all-told on the quest. I reported back to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary and witnessed a conversation between two of the Dark Brotherhood members in which one of them described slaughtering an orphanage, and how he thought it was funny when the children tried to defend themselves. Talk about grim!

Afterwards, I pottered around Cheydinhal for a bit, admiring some of the scenery. I felt like getting more in-character, so I bought a book from the nearby bookstore (entitled Varieties of Daedra), rented a room the the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn, and purchased some food from the bar (a steak, a sweetroll, and some grapes) I then retired to my room to read the book, which is on the table along with my food:

Hours 50 - 51: Killing Spree

I decided to devote the next two hours to completing as many Dark Brotherhood quests (i.e. assassinations) as possible. I fast-traveled as much as possible,and didn't hang around much. The only exception is that I did spend a bit of time talking to my fellow guild-members about some of the assassinations, as they mostly had something interesting to say.

The first two missions went by smoothly. Each mission requires you to assassinate a target, and there is an extra stipulation for each mission which, if fulfilled, will earn you an extra bonus. I managed to do six missions in the two hours. The first involved killing a pirate captain, and the next staging an 'accidental' killing. I failed to avoid detection and lost the bonus for that one.

Next, I had to break into the Imperial Prison and kill an inmate - and kill no guards. I gained access through the extensive sewer network. My 'drain life 100' spell proved invaluable here, as it allowed me to kill the numerous rats and mudcrabs which infest the sewers with virtually no hassle and no mana expenditure - they die to one cast.

Once I entered the prison, I began to sneak around, but always got seen and attacked by the guards. I reloaded from the prison entrance a few times, until I had the thought of simply sprinting my way past all the guards, using my increased speed and agility to avoid their blows. It worked! I ran all the way through the prison, with about give guards hot on my heels, but they just couldn't keep up with me. I reached the target, cast Immolate, and then before the guards knew what had happened I had jumped back over their heads and was on my way back to the sewers. I soon lost them. This earned me a nice bonus - the Scales of Pitiless Justice, which provide permanent stat boots just by being in my inventory! I also earned an amulet called Cruelty's Heart from the next quest, providing a large boost to Willpower and Strength.

I haven't posted a summary of my character since I was level 6, ten levels ago, so now seems as good a time as any.

Level: 16
Health/magicka/fatigue: 152/330/239
Days passed: 91
Quests completed: 51
Creatures killed: 523
People killed: 219
Places found: 93

I forgot to take a picture of my 'Skills' page, I will try to remember to include that in a future entry. I would like to have more magicka - I am often depleted after a few spells, but overall I am happy with my stats. My personality is drained by the Scaled of Pitiless Justice, but that doesn't mater since I can Charm anyone 100% with a spell. I do remember that my Illusion skill is only at 45 (just 10 higher than when I was level 6) and it needs to be 75, I think, before I can start making use of Paralyze spells. Something I will try to work on.

I completed the next three assassinations with no trouble. I'm enjoying the Dark Brotherhood so far, and it's providing a nice change. It's also given me some much better equipment already than what I got from the Mage's guild. I sell off most of the 'stealth' equipment I gain, though, as since the prison mission I am not really bothering with it - I can rely on my speed, and my healing spells to heal myself if any stray blows connect as my pursuers try in vain to catch me. I can imagine it might be quite fun to do a 'speed run' of Oblivion some time

During one of the missions I paused to observe the night sky, which I'd never really paid attention to before. Behold!

Also, during the fifth quest (The Lonely Wanderer), I encountered the target's girlfriend, who turned out to be by far the most attractive (in fact the only attractive) looking female character in the game!

Hour 49: Hail Sithis!

As the new Archmage, I can instruct several of the lesser mages in the University to follow me (only one at a time, though). That could be fun, and I resolve to try it out some time. Another perk is that I get an enchanted chest which duplicates any ingredient ten times. This could potentially be quite a nice money-spinner - I'll have to investigate how lucrative it could be. For now though, I want to start the Dark Brotherhood quest-line, as I already have a fair bit of gold - over 15,000, I think. Back in hour 35, I murdered a vampire-hunter, and Lucien Lachance paid me a visit. He gave me the Blade of Woe and told me that if I kill a man by the name of Rufio, I will be accepted into their ranks.

Rufio is staying in the aptly-named Inn of Ill Omen. I creep into his unlocked room and murder him in his sleep. I then return to the Imperial City. I decide to walk back and enter it, for the first time, through its main entrance. On my way, I encounter quite a few Minotaurs, and stop to clear out Horn Cave, which also has a few Minotaurs and Wisps. Fighting these raging bulls in the narrow confined of a cave is more scary than outdoors. At one point, I have to escape the wrath of two of the beasts by using my water-walking boots to good effect and floating on an underground lake, where they can't get to me. I then pelt them with soul-sapping fireballs. 

The impressive grand entrance bridge to the Imperial City, with the Wawnet Inn on the left. Behind it, you can see White-gold Tower and the walls of the city itself. This entrance would be even more amazing if there were guards and crowds of people coming and going. If Oblivion has 10x the amount of NPCs that would be a start - I hope this is something which TES: VI is able to rectify, with the enhanced capabilities of the PS4 / Xbox One.

Lucien will visit me when I next rest in a location he deems secure. What better place than my very own Arch Mage's quarters? Sure enough, he visits me and bids me to enter the Dark Brother sanctuary in Cheydinhal. 

I enter the old Abandoned House and reach a forbidding-looking door in the basement:

I give the password and am granted entry. The guild chambers are full of all manner of assassins from every race, and I take the time to speak to all of them; not from a 'completionist urge', but because I really want to; as usual, Oblivion's dialogue and characters are far more engrossing than Skyrim's. 

Hour 48: King of Worms

Only I can now defeat the looming menace of the King of Worms. Perhaps I missed something, but my quest marker tells me exactly where to find him, and I'm not sure how I know this. Shouldn't there be some investigation required? Anyway, I head off to Echo Cave the slay the brute and put and end to his insidious cult of Necromancy. There's a necromancer outside the entrance called Bolor - I slay him and take the key to the entrance from him. Great plan, Wormy - lock the door and place a guard with the key right outside it, waiting to be slain. The Necromancers in the previous mission sealed their door with magic, why didn't you?!

Not only is the cave populated by Necromancers, there are also indigenous undead creatures. Here's a shot of my summoned Faded Wraith doing battle with a skeleton:

The skeleton (I think it's called a Skeleton Hero or possibly Skeleton Guardian) is glowing red because it has been hit by some sort of spell by the Wraith.

Eventually I reach Mannimarco himself (after crossing a cool unique-looking bridge with spiky bony protrusions). He engages me in haughty conversation, telling me he will reanimate me after my death so he can study the source of my power, then attacks me. His onslaught is ferocious but I rush in and cast Immolate a few times. He goes down surprisingly quickly, after a few casts, and his summoned minion/s (not sure if there were more than one, as I was focused on bringing him down) crumble with him.

I was expecting something a little more taxing from the so-called King of Worms. For his insolence, I strip him of his robes and staff. Here I am with his gear:

The Staff of Worms is even cooler looking than the Goblin Totem thing I had a while back. It can reanimate slain opponents for 30 seconds. Hmmm, if only there were a fallen, disgraced corpse lying around for me to reanimate. Oh, wait...

Not so tough now, are you, you insolent fool! Perhaps I'll study the source of your power. Oh that's right... you had none! Bwahahah! Now dance! Dance for your master, you wretch!

The staff looks like it could come in pretty handy in future (provided the reanimated corpse will fight for me, which remains to be seen). I return triumphant to the Arcane University. I have completed the Mages' Guild! I finished the Recommendations after 18 hours, and now, 30 hours later, I have finished all the guild quests. Of course, there were many distractions along the way, and I even started another guild for a while. Overall, I'd say it was a satisfying and epic-feeling experience. There were 7 Recommendation quests and 11 regular quests, most of which were enjoyable, and I felt this was a good amount and provided enough content to feel like a real progression from novice to Arch mage. Could it be improved? Definitely - it is only 11 quests, after all, and I could have completed them much more quickly. I'd love to see multiple sub-plots and maybe a branching quest system which could lead to enhanced replayability - imagine 20+ quests, which branch after 5 and 10 quests, giving you essentially 4 completely different quest-lines to complete, based on your choices. What if I could have joined Mannimarco's side and played another 10 quests trying to bring down the Mages' Guild? That would have been amazing. 

But of course, it's easy to say all that. More content would always be appreciated, but the quest-line I completed was still fun. The only other thing I'd really want from the quests would be some kind of ability progression unlocked by them. Most of the quests did not require me to even be a mage at all, and whatever power increase I gained after unlocking spell-making and enchanting after the Recommendation quests was really all my own doing. I would have liked some stat bonuses or better equipment, so that a mage who has done all the Mages Guild quests is really more powerful than a mage who hasn't.

I decide to head to the Arena and partake of a fight. I am given a choice of opponents - I choose the hardest set, two Ogres and a Land Dreugh. They go down easily. I've never seen a Land Dreugh in the wild - what the hell are they?

It looks like something from The Predator. It's larger than an Ogre and pretty terrifying-looking. I really feel Oblivion could do with some massive creatures. Apart from Mehrunes Dagon at the end of the main quest, the biggest things (I think) are Minotaurs, followed by these crab-things and then probably Ogres. Compare this to Dark Souls, which boasts numerous gigantic beasts. Even Skyrim only has Giants and Mammoths as large beasts, and they're not that big either.

Hours 46 - 47: Rising Through the Ranks

I must next retrieve the Necromancers Amulet, which has been stolen by guild members. Upon tracking them to a cave, I speak with their leader, Caranya, who reveals that she is in league with Mannimarco. I kill her with relative ease. I find a book called The Mystery of Princess Talara, Part IV, and read it. It's quite long, in face - about 20 pages or so if I recall correctly. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for the other parts of the book. I think having books like this (and in Oblivion, there are well over 200 of them!) adds so much to the game. You can quite easily go through the entire game without reading a book, but knowing they're there to peruse from time to time creates a lot of immersion. Certainly they're not the most astounding pieces of literature, but it's a nice touch all the same.

I then fight my way back out of the cave with the Amulet. The mages / necromancers fall to one, or sometimes two, casts of my 'Immolate' spell. I don't have much need of my Faded Wraith. 

Upon my return, I am promoted to Master Wizard - the highest rank! Unfortunately, I still get this response when talking to the other wizards who bustle past me in the Arcane University (apologies for the massive amount of screen-glare):

It's a little annoying. There's so much depth and so many nice touches in Oblivion that it feels churlish to complain, but when it comes to things like this I'd be so much happier if the responses of NPCs were multi-layered, and they responded to you differently as you rose through the ranks. It's similar in Skyrim, where you can, for example, be a high-ranking member in the Fighters' Guild, but still be sneered and and spoken to like a new-hire ("so you're the newest member, huh? So what do you do, bring the mead?" or something like that). It ruins the immersion a little. Bethesda giveth, and Bethesda taketh away.

As Master Wizard, I am sent on a dangerous assignment - to retrieve an enormous black soul gem from the clutches of the Necromancer cult. If Mannimarco gets his hands on it, all hope is lost. This mission is quite nice as it adds in something a bit different - I meet with three fellow mages and we lie in wait to ambush the group of Necromancers. Based on their preference for magic or combat, I have to decide whether they should wait near to the entrance (closer to the fray) or hang back. Errr... not exactly a complex tactical decision, but it's something different, at least.

After we defeat the first group of Necromancers, however, I am shocked that my comrades instruct me to enter the Necromancer's hideout to find the gem - and then don't come with me! Thanks a lot!? I battle my way through without much trouble (picking up a lot of potions on the way - I love Necromancers) and finally encounter Falcar - the ex-head of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild, who tried to have me drowned during my initiation! He's a pushover, though, and I nab the soul gem.

I return the gem to Archmage Traven, who explains that it will protect me against Mannimarco's influence. He then kills himself and his soul is transferred into the gem! Noooo!

I strip him of his robes to add them to my collection. Since, as per Traven's final instructions, I am Archmage now (!) I want to look the part. Unfortunately, his robes aren't enchanted or anything. He looks a bit too ripped for an old wizard, don't you think? He has a six-pack! Then again, I suppose wizards would just use alteration on themselves.

I settle into my new quarters. Traven's room is nice, with it's own altar of spellmaking and enchanting, a large double bed, and a teleporter to reach the mages' lobby. I then flounce around town for a bit - many of the mages now recognise me and call me Archmage (hooray!) and sell off my wares for a pretty penny, before readying myself for the final battle against Mannimarco - 'The King of Worms' (gross!)...